I have seen this link before but I have always been interrupted when I try to watch the clip. I shall try again!
I note that the f-hole guitars as we know them began with Lloyd Loar’s design of the Gibson L-5, which superseded the oval hole L-4 as Gibson’s top guitar. It bears mentioning that the L-5 was originally intended as an instrument for backup in a mandolin orchestra and essentially followed the same principles embodied in the Loar designed F-5 mandolin.
Due respect to Ken Parker, but I think Loar knew what he was doing. I grant that there may be compelling theoretical reasons for saying that an f-hole archtop is inefficient, but the ultimate issue is the sound. Whether it sounds better or worse than other designs (round hole archtop, round hole flattop) is a matter of preference. But it definitely sounds different than other designs.
And that difference, in my view, given the historical record, is exactly why acoustic archtops found favor around 1930, replacing the tenor banjo in jazz bands: An f-hole archtop projects similarly to a tenor banjo (no surprise given the floating bridge and tailpiece arrangement on each), but is less harsh sounding, largely because scale length, number of strings, and tuning (and other reasons; a tenor banjo without a resonator and tone ring is less strident than one with those features). No flattop, certainly no flattop in the Martin design paradigm, can quite get that sound. Indeed, the original OM was designed to compete with the L-5, and was a commercial failure in its intended role (not unlike the L-5 in its intended mandolin orchestra role). Of course an OM is a superb instrument, one with more cut and projection than a dreadnought. But neither projects the way an L-5 or similar instrument does.
For someone who prefers the sound of a flattop but wants more projection, Orville Gibson and his pre-Loar successors at Gibson got it right with the L-4 and related models such as the L-75: A round hole archtop really is the best of both worlds. That’s true even in the smaller Gibson archtops like my L Jr., but much more so with the 16” models. The problem is that unless you buy used, or custom, you can’t buy such an instrument today.
Bottom line, Lloyd Loar designed the L-5 to complement the F-5 mandolin, H-5 mandola, and K-5 mandocello. That his design evolved to suit a different kind of rhythm section was because of its distinctive sound, lack of theoretical efficiency or not. Whether that sound pleases the ear or not is entirely subjective, and in part dependent on what one is used to playing or hearing.
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